MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE AFRICAN CATFISH (Clarias gariepinus BURCHELL, 1822) STRAINS INTRODUCED TO INDONESIA
Abstract: African catfish
(Clarias gariepinus Burchell, 1822) has become a great important species in
Indonesian aquaculture. Several strains of the African catfish have been
introduced to Indonesia for aquaculture purposes, initiated by Dumbo strain
from Taiwan in 1985, followed by Paiton strain from Thailand in 1998, then
Egypt strain from Egypt in 2007, Masamo strain from Thailand in 2010 and later
Kenya strain from Kenya in 2011. Since its introductions, there were no reports
yet on their characterization studies. The present study was conducted to
morphologically characterize the strains of African catfish introduced to
Indonesia, i.e. Dumbo, Paiton, Egypt, Masamo, and Kenya strains. Morphometric
and meristic data obtained were analyzed using Principal Component Analysis.
Results of the morphometric characterization in the present study revealed that
Dumbo, Paiton, Masamo, and Kenya strains were indistinguishable, while
morphometric characteristic of Egypt strain was more or less different from
those of the other strains. On the other hand, results of the meristic
characterization suggested that meristic characteristics of all strains of the
introduced African catfish were not different from each other. Therefore, to keep
the genetic purity of those introduced strains, they should be properly
maintained in isolated places.
Keywords: morphometric;
meristic; introduced strains; African catfish Clarias gariepinus
Author: Bambang Iswanto, Imron,
Rommy Suprapto, Huria Marnis
Journal Code: jpperikanangg150047
